After you’ve celebrated your engagement, Las Vegas brides, one of the first wedding planning issues you’ll have to tackle is your wedding budget. Sure, this isn’t the most fun aspect of wedding planning. But to stay debt-free and carefree, it’s best to establish guidelines for your wedding spending. Now the big question is: How do you figure out your wedding budget?

Decide how much you can save.

If you and your fiancé will be paying for your Las Vegas wedding, start saving as soon as possible. Plan a time when you can sit down together to specifically talk finances. Then discuss how much money you have in savings and what you would like to donate toward wedding day expenses. Next consider how much you can realistically save in the coming months. Take the number of months until your wedding date and multiply that number by the amount you can save per month. That’s your wedding budget.

Ask Mom and Dad.

If your parents would like to contribute, you can also add their figures into the wedding budget total. Meet with both of your families to discuss a definite figure. Then you’ll know what you have to work with. Likewise, if your parents would like to pay for your wedding in its entirety, discuss the total figure for your budget. Stay within their guidelines (unless you plan to shell out some cash yourself). Keep in mind that some parents will want to pay for specific items, such as a wedding dress or all the wedding receptionflowers. In all cases, be sure to thank your family for generously contributing to your special day.

Establish an overall figure.

Once you’ve added (1) how much money you will contribute from you and your fiancé’s savings, (2) how much money you can save in the coming months, and (3) how much money both sets of parents are willing to contribute, you will have one total figure. This number is your wedding budget.

Consider the percentages.

Now that you have a total figure for your wedding budget, you’ll have to break it down for expenditures. If you would like, you can hire a wedding consultant for assistance. But if you prefer a DIY method, view a wedding planning budget guide (see below) that estimates what you need to spend for each category.

Do the math.

Using the chart, you can take your total budget figure and multiply it by each percentage. For example, let’s say you have $15,000 total to use for your wedding. According to this chart, a reception should cost 43% of your total budget. To calculate how much to spend on your reception, you simply multiply the numbers of the total and the percentage (note: 43%=0.43), like this: 15,000 x 0.43 = 6450. In this example’s case, 43% of $15,000 would give you $6,450 to use toward your reception.

Check the chart.

Whether your budget for your Las Vegas wedding includes $2,000 or $25,000, you need a plan before you start booking wedding professionals and services. With this guide, you’ll know how much to spend.